|
 |
Swedish x Danish x Norwegian | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4706 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 1 of 24 06 January 2012 at 1:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Hello guys! =)
I've been studying Russian and Dutch for some time now, but after I achieve a good level on both of them I wanted to learn a scandinavian language. As far as I know, both Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are pretty close and almost mutually understandable. Norwegian would be less generic, since there are the dialects, and also Bokmal and Nynorsk, right? Anyway, I was hoping a native scandinavian could enlighten me as to the differences between the 3 languages, and also which one would be easier, and which would be more useful. I know these questions are quite relative, but I want personal opinions. Thanks a lot! =) Edited by fabriciocarraro on 06 January 2012 at 1:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6774 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 2 of 24 06 January 2012 at 1:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
It is said that Norwegian is the most "linguistically efficient" of the three, in the
sense that knowing it makes it easy to understand the others to a greater degree than knowing any of the other two does. I don't have a way to check that, so I'm not sure. If I were you, given that you have no particular preference, I would probably look around to see which one I can get the most/best resources for and go with that one. The story with dialects in Norway is a little chaotic, because unlike many countries, use of dialect is actively encouraged both at local and national level. So they play a much bigger role in the language than they do in say Italy. Edited by numerodix on 06 January 2012 at 1:41pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5720 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 3 of 24 06 January 2012 at 1:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Here's a blog post with some good charts on how well Scandinavians understand each other's languages.
http://www.pagef30.com/2009/03/norwegians-understand-other.h tml One question I've been meaning to ask: which Scandinavian language would be best for being able to read all 3? From what I understand there are a lot of false friends in the Scandinavian languages, but it isn't too hard to figure out. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5325 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 4 of 24 06 January 2012 at 2:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
I am probably prejudiced here, but it is a fact that Norwegian is the language which gives you most access to the other two. Danes and Swedes struggle to understand eachother, but they usually understand Norwegian, and we understand both languages.
And as for resources, I'm here :-). I wouldn't worry about the dialects. Just go for Standard Eastern Norwegian, which is the variant used in all learners's material and in most of the media. Any other variant would sound odd out of the mouth of a foreigner, unless they have learned Norwegian in a particular Norwegian place. There are Danish and Swedish dialects which are almost incomprehensible as well. (Ari provided a Swedish example a while ago, and my Danish friends insist that Jydsk is difficult even for them). @ Michael K: As for reading, Norwegian is still the more "neutral choice". False friends is an insignificant problem, you would have no problem figuring it out. Anyway Scandinavians are not spoiled with people learning their language, so you would meet a lot of understanding should you make a mistake. We are also so used to the other two languages, that if I hear a foreigner speak with a Swedish accent, I would automatically adjust my understanding to that fact, and would interpret the word he said in a Swedish context. If somebody says: "Give me a shit" in Swedish, I would automtically hand him the beer I knew he meant to ask for, even if the word in Norwegian only has the literal sense :-) Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 06 January 2012 at 2:18pm 9 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5720 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 5 of 24 06 January 2012 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Thanks, Solfrid Cristin.
I'm laughing at the "give me a shit" example, LOL. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4706 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 6 of 24 06 January 2012 at 4:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Thanks for the answers Cristina, Michael K. and numerodix!
I'm really amazed, since I thought that because of its nature (with the differences between Bokmal, Nynorsk and the dialects) Norwegian would be the less "recommended". Also because Norway has about half the population of Sweden. What about grammatical differences? And pronounciation? Is one of them easier than the others in those aspects? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6573 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 7 of 24 06 January 2012 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
If someone said "Give me a shit" to me in Swedish ("Ge mig en skit"?), I'd stare blankly at him and then laugh. In what Swedish dialect does "skit" mean "beer"? I've never heard it. As to the OP's question, it's largely a matter of exposure. Many Swedes have little exposure to the other Scandinavian languages, which I think is the main reason we have trouble understanding the others. They hear more Swedish than we hear their languages. I've had little exposure to Danish and so to me it's utterly incomprehensible. I understand quickly spoken Danish about as well as German (which is to say, not at all). I'll catch a word here and there, but in general I'll have no clue as to what is being said. If you say it slowly I'll get a bit more, and if you write it down I'll have no trouble at all. Norwegian very much depends on the dialect. Some people are easy to understand and others are hard. 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6774 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 8 of 24 06 January 2012 at 6:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
As Christina said, I don't think it's a good idea to get sidetracked on this issue. Someone traveling to China to learn "Chinese" and not realizing that the country has many many languages not mutually intelligible would be in big trouble. If you ignore everything to do with dialects and Nynorsk you will not be in that kind of trouble so don't worry. :) Even though I'm a native my perspective is skewed to what I've encountered and I'd say that Nynorsk is not a big deal. It's spoken by so few people natively that the most you will see it is in writing (literature). And on paper I don't think it's gonna be hard to understand, there are dictionaries too. Dialects are more tricky, because they are not codified and exist almost entirely in the spoken language.
From a Norwegian perspective Swedish is easy to pronounce and Danish isn't. And as for grammar I think you are basically looking at Italian vs Spanish, which is to say almost negligible. I could be mistaken. Edited by numerodix on 06 January 2012 at 6:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
